Eggless Sadness

We bring you sad news on our saga to break the egg-eater habit. Our ladies had discovered how yummy their eggs are. They have now developed into egg eaters. If we are vigilant with multiple checks throughout the day of their nesting box, we are lucky to find 3 eggs from our 48 egg layers, but most days we are down to 0. We have checked with all our resources on how to break the habit. They have an abundance of calcium in their feed. We filled empty egg shells with mustard but they eat it gone – shell and all. We put golf balls in their nest so to learn it hurts to attempt to break it. We invested in a $300 nesting box that rolls away the egg as they lay them (which we catch our smart girls walking back and forth and craning their necks to reach the goods).

 

As a last recourse, with heavy hearts we even snipped the ends of the beaks of those we caught with mustard on their face to attempt to detour them. We even separated those that we have caught from the others to see if we would have eggs at the end of the day but we are afraid that the hens have modeled this bad behavior and it is now learned by all of them.

 

Our options now are to either run a petting zoo of eggs eaters or to cull the clan and start fresh with a new flock.

 

We will take on the deed next week and will plan when best to order new chicks. What it does mean is no more eggs this year. We are so very sad to share with you this news.

s

Labor of Love –Canning

We have been busy preserving summer. Tonight  we took on Bruschetta in a Jar. We can’t wait to dig into this come fall, come snow, come gray skies.

Try it yourself. (And while peeling those tomatoes, tap your toes to Greg Brown's 'Canned Goods')

 Bruschetta in a Jar

·        5 cloves of garlic, diced
·        1 cup dry white wine
·        1 cup white wine vinegar
·        ½ cup water
·        2 tbsp sugar
·        2 tbsp basil
·        2 tbsp oregano
·        2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
·        9 cups chopped cored plum tomatoes

1.    Prepare canner, jars and lids. (Clean jars and closures, heat the jars, and place the flat lids in small saucepan, covered with water, simmering over medium heat)

2.    Combine garlic, wine, wine vinegar, water, sugar, basil, oregano and balsamic vinegar in large stainless steel saucepan . Bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Reduce heat, cover and boil gently for 5 minutes – Remove from heat.

3.    Prep tomatoes by cutting the stem, place in boiling water for 1 minute, then in cold water. Skin will peel off. Once all peeled, chop tomatoes.

4.    Pack tomatoes into hot jars with ½ inch of top of jar. Ladle hot vinegar mixture into jar to cover tomatoes, leaving ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust with small plastic spatula. Adjust headspace if necessary by adding hot liquid so ½ inch headspace remains. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

5.    Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 20 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, label and store.

Spaghetti Squash – God’s Gift to the Low Carb Diet

Best treat this week in your CSA box? The Spaghetti Squash! Why? Because you cut it in half lengthwise, scoop out all seeds, submerge in boiling water for 20-25 minute (until fork can easily pull the squash into strand), then drain and run cold water over squash to stop cooking process. Use fork to scrape the cook squash out of its rind, fluffing and separating the pulp into spaghetti-like stands. YOU NOW HAVE A VEGETABLE PASTA SUBSTITUTE THAT IS BETTER THAN PASTA!

A house hold favorite recipe is George Stella’s Anaheim-Shrimp-Scampi. (This recipe works well to substitute in chicken vs. seafood as well)  We highly recommend his recipe book ‘George Stella’s Livin’ Low Carb’. All his recipes are winners.

More Produce than Can be Carried

CSA Families-

GOOD NEWS: The garden is overflowing with produce. This week you have :
· A & C Pickling Cucumbers
· Black Beauty Zucchini
· Kale
· Buran Peppers
· Tomatoes
· Jalapeno Peppers
· De Cicco Broccoli
· Spaghetti Squash
· Swiss Chard
· Eggs
·
BAD NEWS: This is now much too heavy for me to deliver as well as for each family member to carry out from their office to their car. Please stop out at the homestead and pick up your bounty. (This Wednesday evening would be ideal, but someone will be home in the evenings and this weekend if need be)

And we really must get nicer boxes :)

 

 

Rattlesnake Snap

This week we add beans to the weekly gathering. One of which is Rattlesnake Snap. It is naturally sweet so a fun addition to your salads. If you do not plan to use the green beans within the week, freeze them. A great recipe to try:

Green Bean Salad with Goat Cheese Dressing

·       1 pound green beans, trimmed
·       2 ounces crumbled fresh goat cheese
·       1 lemon (zest of)
·       1 tablespoon lemon juice
·       2 tablespoons apple juice
·       1 clove garlic, minced
·       1/3 cup chopped fresh dill, divided
·       3/4 cup fresh corn (from 1 ear corn)
·       1 large tomato, diced

 Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add green beans and cook just until they turn bright green and are barely tender, about 2 minutes. Drain and cool in a bowl of ice cold water. Drain and pat dry.

Dressing: Whisk together goat cheese, lemon zest and juice, apple juice, and garlic in a small bowl. Toss green beans with half the dressing and half the dill and spread on a platter. Top with corn and tomato, drizzle with remaining dressing and sprinkle with remaining dill.

Cupola

A cupola for the chicken coop barn!  Thank you to my hubby for making such a crown jewel for me and the girls.

Zucchini Start

Excitement of new greens -- the zucchini is here!

Smoked (Grilled) Zucchini

Slice zucchini length-wise
Spread with butter
Sprinkle with salt
Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette
Top with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Add to the smoker with the chicken for last hour or place on grill until tender

Smoked Chicken
Rub chicken with olive oil, sea salt and rosemary
Place in smoker for about 4 hours

Abundance!

CSA Family-

Garden is in abundance!

Today you have eggs, lettuce, a few beets and of course Swiss chard, but new are a few carrots and kale! There are three different kinds of kale in your package, each with their own unique taste. It was new to us and we both had a different favorite. Like Swiss chard, the kale stem is bitter so for a salad we cut the leaf away from the stem.

We are very close to having cucumbers, zucchini and tomatoes ready, maybe as early as next week.

When visiting the farm again, we now have the Hebl heard crazing behind us. It was so lovey to chat with them while harvesting the garden last evening. Three calves tucked under the fence and grazed the vineyard area. No harm and they are so sweet. It got one of us excited for goats. :)

Storm :( 

Down for the count:
·        1 flag pole
·        2 doors off the grill
·        2 trees
·        ¼ of the sunflowers and 2 rows of tomato plants buried from the wood pile being pushed over
·        1 Chicken coop moved 3 feet off its foundation;
·        2 Cornish rock meat birds are missing– can we tell you again how dumb this breed is?

Such is life on the open range.  

 

Beet and Spinach Salad

·       2-3 Beets
·       Spinach
·       Goat or Blue Cheese
·       1-2 Apples
·       Bacon (half to whole package)

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.     De-stem and clean beets
3.     Place beets on foil (on the tray) and coat with dressing (below)
4.     Wrap beets in foil and roast in for 60 minutes at 350 degrees
5.     Microwave bacon, cool so can handle, and snip into small bite sizes with kitchen scissors
6.     Cut apple in to small chunk pieces.
7.     Slice roasted beats thinly
8.     On chilled dinner plates, layer spinach, sliced beets, apple chunks, cheese and bacon
9.     Drizzle with Honey Mustard Balsamic Vinegar and Oil dressing and enjoy

Honey Mustard Balsamic Vinegar and Oil Dressing:
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1.      Wisk mustard and vinegar briefly
2.     Place the mustard-vinegar mixture along the with oil, honey and seasonings in a blender and mix for about 10 seconds (or fully combined)
3.     Transfer to a glass container and let stand for 30 minutes to let the flavor meld
4.     Give the dressing a good shake immediately before servings
5.     Makes a 1 cup batch of dressing, will keep for one month